Kelk society
Kelk Society By Pavel Popov While still savage and lacking any official organizational structure of higher races, the Kelk clans are nevertheless separated into different casts. While on different star systems and even planets the names and numbers of the castes may differ greatly, the general structure always remains the same. The usual castes are as follows, from the lowest to the highest tiers: · Women and children of both sexes under the age of 14; · Youth (Clansmen); · Hunters, Shieldbreakers, the first military specializations; · Beastmasters, Engineers, Guards, the second “support”/privileged specializations, both military and “civilian” (while the last category could be applied to savage Kelk, a Kelk engineer can swing a sword with almost the same wicked efficiency as his more combat-oriented brothers); · Warlord. While being the lowest caste, Kelk females are nevertheless respected by every member of the clan, from the lowly Clansmen up to the fear-inspiring Warlord. Women carry out various important roles in Kelk society – they treat the wounded, prepare food and, most importantly, give birth to new strong warriors of the Kelk race. In case of a conflict, Kelk commanders make sure that the women and underage children are properly defended, even if this could mean that fewer males participate in fights elsewhere. Youth, or males that reach the age of 10, are considered to be members of the Clan and are called Clansmen. They are allowed to participate in hunts and combat, albeit only after sufficient military training from the adult Kelk. Unlike Human or Amarant teenagers however, a 14-year old Kelk is physically strong enough to strangle a wild Vorka with his bare hands, and can survive injuries that would have killed a full-grown Human adult that had undergone professional military training, so the additional military training is usually limited to learning the ways of use of new weaponry and tactics. Youth are supposed to accomplish a feat of courage on a hunt or in combat in order to be considered adult, and be allowed to wear proper Bromit armor. Status of an adult also allows a Kelk to choose an initial specialization – usually the Hunter, a heavy weapon specialist, or the Shieldbreaker, that prefers to cause mayhem at close combat. Once the status of an adult is reached and the male chooses the first true specialization, the Kelk are free to develop specific skills that they have inclination for, which may may later lead them to more specific positions within the higher-tier Kelk society – that of a Beastmaster that specializes in taming hostile wildlife, an Engineer with a taste for reverse-engineering captured technology or even creating something entirely Kelk-made, or Guards, who train in protecting Warlords and other vital individuals. Warlords, who are chosen by the whole Clan for remarkable feats of leadership and ferocity, with each adult male of the clan having a right to vote, may originate from any of the high-tier specializations. Despite its simplicity. the Kelk society should not be underestimated. In time of conflict, both during offensive operations and while defending their homeworlds, Kelk demonstrate unusual integrity and cooperation. The only thing that saves other races from being wiped out by the Kelk menace is the fact that this integrity does not extend to multi-clan operations, which tend to break down unto infighting once the initial goal of the aliens is reached.